Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 32, No. 20, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 18, 1978 Page: 5 of 20
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Israel's Miracle In The Air
1
1
HAIFA — In this thirtieth
year of Statehood, Israel’s
Air Force is rated among the
best in the world. The
products of its aircraft
industries — Israel is one of
only seven countries that
produce advanced fighter
aircraft — are sold in
markets around the world.
It
II
We have come to take
these facts for granted in
1978. Yet thirty years ago,
the development of such air
power and industry was no
more than a stubborn dream
in the minds of a small group
of men. And the determina-
tion of one such man in 1949
was a key factor in the
Israeli “miracle”. This de-
termination led in 1950, to
the founding of a Depart-
ment of Aeronautical En-
gineering at the Technion —
Israel Institute of Technol-
ogy. The training of en-
gineers, as well as the
research carried on in this
department has been instru-
mental in making this key
defense and industrial arm
what it is today.
he returned to England and
resigned from his high posts,
making plans to begin
working at the Technion in
1950. Ben Gurion indicated
both his pleasure at this
move, and his feeling of its
urgency, in a letter to
Kaplansky in May of 1949: “I
highly esteem Professor
Goldstein’s coming to Israel
and joining our scientific
powers. It would be well if
he could begin his work at
the Technion as quickly as
he can free himself from his
present duties.”
graduated more than 750
students. Its staff numbers
35, and its research results
are published in distinguish-
ed journals around the
world.
In November of 1950,
Goldstein was hard at work
in Haifa. That first year the
British professor and a
two-member research staff
began work. The following
year they were joined by a
senior lecturer. By 1952 a
first course in the field was
offered, in “Fluid Dynam-
ics”, to students in Mechani-
cal Engineering and Electri-
cal Engineering. By 1955 the
program was in full gear.
When, in 1967, France
placed an embargo in the
delivery of 50 paid-for
Mirage V jets, engineers at
Israel Aircraft Industries
said they were capable, if
necessary, of building a
combat jet that could com-
pete with the Mirage V.
Three years ago, on the
country’s 27th Independence
Day the “Kfir”, Israel’s
homemade fighter-bomber,
was unveiled — an object of
Jewish national pride
around the world.
L
The man’s name was
Sydney Goldstein. An Eng-
lishman, he was Chairman of
the Aeronautical Research
Council, 1946-1949, and a
professor at Manchester
University as well. Today
Goldstein is included among
the historic “greats” in the
area of fluid dynamics, a
“living legend” in his field. ^
He has received honorary
degrees from the Technion
and the Weizmann Institute
of Science, and has been
awarded the Tonoshenko
Medal of the American
Society of Mechanical En-
gineers.
Today it can be seen that
Professor Goldstein’s stub-
born determination has paid
off — both for Technion and
Israel. The department has
The first completely indi-
genous aircraft designed and
built by IAI was the
“Arava”, a short take-off and
landing passenger and cargo
transport. The Technion’s
Department of Aeronautical
Engineering assisted IAI in
performing structural and
windtunnel tests for the
twin-engine turbo-prop air-
craft. Production of the
“Arava” was followed by the
design and construction of
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In 1949 Goldstein came to
visit the fledgling State at
the request of an old friend,
Chaim Weizmann. Both
Weizmann and David Ben
\ ' Gurion invited him to visit
i ; the Technion. The Technion
* ' was already a quarter
century old. In its pre-State
days it had been a crucial
source of manpower for
laying the groundwork for a
Jewish State: it had trained
j the engineers who were so
, badly needed to build roads,
1 * hospitals, schools and devel-
op agriculture. Goldstein
visited the new State and its
Institute of Technology, and
found he shared a common
belief with some of its
leaders: if Israel were to
j j survive, a strong Air Force
would be its most important
“• defense.
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Many scoffed at his bold
prediction. In such a small,
undeveloped country, it was
reasoned, the Air Force
would surely play a minor
role. And an air industry
was unthinkable.
But Technion’s President,
Shlomo Kaplansky, shared
the vision. In fact, as early
as 1946 he had considered
setting up a Technion
department of aeronautical
engineering. Goldstein made
what must have been a
difficult' personal decision:
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These projects laid the
foundation for a viable local
aircraft industry, capable of
producing the “Kfir”.
country strong in the air.
Producing aircraft is but
one part of the story, of
course. In the three decades
of Israel’s fight for survival,
the pilots of her Air Force
have time and again dem-
onstrated their bravery and
skill in defending their
country. The combination of
this outstanding group of
young, dedicated men with
the development of new
technology has made the
Like Professor Goldstein
some 30 years ago, Technion
staff and graduates are
thinking not only of past
glories, but of the future.
The idea of building a new
plane to meet the needs of
the 1980’s is today being
discussed. Should the deci-
sion to build it come, scores
of Technion graduates and
researchers will be ready to
play their roles in the
project.
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■ V '
PAGE 5 FORT WORTH THURSDAY, MAY 18, 1978 TEXAS JEWISH POST
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Wisch, J. A. Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 32, No. 20, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 18, 1978, newspaper, May 18, 1978; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth753234/m1/5/?rotate=90: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .